Day 3 started for us on a giant golden unicorn to the musical curation of Motor City Drum Ensemble. As ever, we got schooled into the early foundations of dance music with classic disco records and a touch of early house music to keep things interesting. On this third day we really started to get the hang of the festival, as did every other visitor it seemed; we were all chilling and partying in a true Oasis of mixed cultures, music and…. food! The festival cuisine was provided by Le Jardin and Nomad, one of the most well known restaurants in Marrakesh and delivered quality local tastes as well as solid burgers and local superstar Omar Souleyman was a particular attraction for the ladies it seemed, with his heavily Middle-Eastern influenced brand of electronica causing adrenaline highs throughout his audience. Souleyman was followed by Butch, who made the audience dance again with his own selection of Arabic sounds. After we chose to go to Steffi, who choose to do a set in Ostgut Ton style. Because Blawan missed his flight, Jennifer Cardini played again this weekend and made the Arena burst with energy. One of the best sets of the weekend was given by Hamburg’s Helena Hauff. Her selection of lo-fi, synth-riddled bunker and acid stompers give all the reason why this artist is in the midst of such a meteoric rise. Like with a few other artists at Oasis Festival, we wondered why they were placed at the slightly less intimate main stage and not at The Arena, where Hauff’s sound would have come across much better.

After Helena Hauff came the artist that, together with Dixon, most of the Oasis visitors had looked forward to: Jeff Mills. As Hauff took off her last records from the Technics 1210’s the show shifted rightward a couple of feet towards The Wizard and his setup consisting of his trusted 909 drum machine, CDJs and Vestax rotary mixer. Other than at Dekmantel earlier in the summer, where his set was the military march laden with percussion and low on melody, Mills’ Oasis set was surprisingly funky and had more of the classic Detroit roots in it. At one point, he teased The Bells for about a minute, causing of course a total meltdown on the dance floor.

This second edition of Oasis Festival included many of the improvements that were expected after its 2015 debut. A resort that was much better suited to fit the amount of people needed to make a boutique festival like this work; no more huge distance between the crowd and the artists at the main stage; a bar staff that was more equipped and experienced to handle queues (although the bracelet paying system still leaves much to be desired), and above all a crowd, consisting of over 30 nationalities, that was a perfect blend of Europeans and electronica-loving locals coming together to enjoy and dance to a mega-festival kind of line up in an off-kilter, intimate setting. And all that in a city and country that is on a fast pace to become the exotic dance music destination that people have been looking for. Inshallah.